Use of the Internet to access and shop at online retailers, wholesalers or manufacturers is becoming increasingly popular. Typically, online vendors will use a plurality of webpages to display their goods and services, as well as process payment transactions. The webpages of an online retailer may be classified in two broad categories; i) static webpages that merely display information to a user, and ii) interactive webpages that allow a user to select items for purchase.
Online retail webpages typically consist of a combination of text and graphical information displayed to a user. E-commerce websites also typically include a plurality of item identifiers. The item identifiers are visual features on the vendor's webpage that represent tangible goods and services that are available for purchase.
In addition to conventional webpages, online vendors may also utilize other technologies and interfaces that enable the desired e-commerce transactions. These alternative technologies may or may not be web-based. An example of a webpage alternative is an ecommerce system designed to operate on mobile phone networks. Using such a system, a mobile phone owner may be able to shop for goods and services using only her phone's operating system, without the need for a traditional computer and internet browser. E-commerce transactions may be conducted using mobile phones, PDAs and a variety of other electronic devices operating with non-browser-based web interfaces.
While the development of online selling may be relatively new, product discounts and other similar purchase incentives have long been used to promote the sale of goods and services. Products are typically discounted as an attempt to encourage consumers to purchase additional goods and services that the consumers may be less likely to purchase if the goods and services were offered at full price. Product discounts can be offered as a percentage of the price of the good (i.e. “This t-shirt is 50% off”), or the discount may be expressed as a dollar value (i.e. “This t-shirt is $5.00 off”).
Discounts off regularly priced products have traditionally been offered for a variety of reasons. For example, a product may be discounted because it is out of season, damaged or going out of style. Products may also be discounted if they become obsolete, or a competing product is introduced into the market place.
However, using the discount display systems currently known in the art, a customer's discount information shown on a given interactive webpage can become at least temporarily hidden from the customer's view when the webpage changes to a different interactive webpage. In addition, current discount display systems do not display an updated discount amount to a customer in real-time. In fact, current discount display systems commonly do not display an updated discount amount to a customer until the customer proceeds to the online check out at the conclusion of the shopping transaction. By the time a customer has reached the online check out, the chances of that customer re-entering the online retailers interactive webpages to purchase additional goods is greatly reduced.
When a customer's discount information is hidden from view (even temporarily) or is not promptly updated, she may not realize how each additional item selected affects her discount amount, and she may therefore be less likely to purchase additional items. Having a customer's current discount information disappear from view is particularly disadvantageous when the customer is accessing additional interactive webpages and considering making additional purchases.
Therefore, there is a need for a discount display system that can display a customer's current, updated discount information continuously for as long as the customer is accessing an online retailer's interactive webpages. It would be advantageous for the current, updated discount information to be displayed on each interactive webpage accessed by the customer. It may also be advantageous for the discount display system to display the current, updated discount information on a plurality of the online retailer's static webpages. The discount display system described herein addresses these needs.